Michael Gartenberg: TiVO's DRM is a bad idea that will be rejected by consumers

Michael Gartenberg: TiVO's DRM is a bad idea that will be rejected by consumers "Well it looks like TiVO has an answer to MediaCenter PCs and the ability to transport content. You will be able to download TiVO content to your PC and from there you will be able to watch it and burn it off to DVD if you like. There’s only one problem and it’s a BIG one. Unlike Media Center PC, the content will be encrypted and therefore in order to use it you will have to purchase a USB dongle to plug into the PC in order to do anything. You will not be able to edit the content in any way and only view or burn (with the hardware key). This is a really bad idea. Forget the fact that I can’t network my content (like Replay devices can and new MCE Extender will be able to do) but I can’t really get content portability. Hardware protection dongles are a nightmare from the 80’s that are being brought back to life. They get lost and they break…. And when they do… no more access to content. This is one of the worst ideas ever and it’s not likely to find favor with the technical users that will most likely be the early adopters. I’ve already discussed how TiVO fails to exploit the fantastic resource that are its customers, they now manage to go one step further and show them real disdain.
It’s another reason that I believe that DVR functionality will no doubt become more and more mainstream but it’s not likely TiVO will reap the rewards."